CHAPTER 15

            The ringtone of Dahyun’s phone echoed as she stares longingly towards to door which Momo just walked out of. She was at the odd place between bliss and loneliness. It was a big sigh of relief, yet it felt like it took so much away from her, at the same time.

            Ring.

            Realizing that her phone had been ringing for a good amount of time, she grabbed it and answered the call. “Yes?”

            “Dahyun.” The girl uttered her name ever so casually, with a hint of nerve hidden beneath her monotonic voice.

            “Sana?” The younger girl asked.

            “Are you home?”

            “I am, why?”

            “Okay.”

            After saying okay, the girl on the other end abruptly dropped the call. Dahyun’s eyebrows furrowed and took the phone away from her ear, placing it in front of her on the countertop. “What was that about?...” The confused girl asked. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to it, but it was just so sudden. Sana would be the last one she would expect a call from, at this early hour.

            Just then, she heard a knock on the door.

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            A few minutes ago, Momo walked out of the unit with her luggage of things, carrying a box of the smaller articles in the other arm. Her footsteps echoed throughout the empty tiled hallway. After a few extended lunges, she reached the front of the elevator shaft. There was a window in the area, shining bright sunlight on Momo.

            It was a nice, warm feeling. The days have been cold due to the recent winter that passed, and it was nice that the sun was shining again. Basking in the comforting warmth of the sunlight, Momo closed her eyes and let her thought ebb and flow in the empty space.

            It was going to take a lot from her to treat Dahyun platonically. She’s grown used to morning cuddles, her cooking, and everything else about them. It was a big puzzle piece thrown into the vast ocean for her. She felt incomplete, but she knew she had to endure this for Dahyun, too. It wasn’t just her that was having a hard time.

            Her thoughts were interrupted when the elevator dinged, indicating that one was arriving on her floor. She opened her eyes the same time the elevator doors slid open. She took the steps and parked herself in front of the floor buttons, pressing the button for the ground floor with the first joint of her index finger.

            It was still adequately warm inside the elevator, Momo sighing as she stares at the screen which showed which floor the booth was on. The number slowly decreased, but stopped at the 5th floor. A couple was waiting outside the doors as they slid open, smiling and greeting Momo with a bow. The latter responded with a bow as well, and held the door opens for them as she was the one near the console.

            The couple walked in, talking to each other. The man had his arm around his partner’s waist, holding her close and warm. Momo didn’t let it go unnoticed, and let her mind freely bring back the moments when she did the same to Dahyun. The younger girl was ticklish, and she would always and tickle her sides as she wrapped her arm around her. This made Momo smile.

            The couple looked at the console and saw that Momo was heading to the ground floor as well. It was silence apart from the little giggles the couple let out as they were telling each other jokes and conversing. Is this what it feels like to third wheel? Momo jokingly asked herself.

            The elevator once again dinged, and the doors slid open. Momo let the couple go out first, as she was still adjusting her grip on the box and fiddling with the handle of her suitcase. She couldn’t seem to re-extend the handle, taking too long in the elevator. The couple had already walked too far away for her to ask for help, and in just a few seconds, she knew that the doors would slide close.

            Just as she predicted, the doors started to close and a slight panic set over her, sending her into a rush to fix the suitcase and even considered just kicking it out of the booth and running out with the box. Her mind was too slow to reconsider, however.

            Her eyes were settled on the gap between the door and the frame of the elevator. She pulled out the handle of the suitcase with force, hearing a slight crack from the metallic joints. The handle popped out, but the gap was too small.

            Just then, four fingers suddenly stopped the doors from closing. Momo breathed a sigh of relief as the doors, once again, slide back open and revealed the identity of her savior.

            Momo tilted her head and looked at the person in front of her. “You dyed your hair?” Momo asked, pouting and walking out of the elevator. It was Sana, clad in her new brown hair. Sana nodded in response to her best friend’s question. Their eyes met with a slight friction. The both of them have changed throughout the years, and somehow, the situation just put them both in a fighting ring. Sana was oblivious of whatever race was going on, while Momo waited at the starting line. “Seeing Dahyun?” Momo asked as she passed by Sana, who was now about to step into the elevator.

            “Yeah.” Sana spoke before she went inside the booth. Looking at Momo’s back made her remember their little encounter last night. “Momo-yah.” She called out, to which Momo froze in place to indicate that she heard her.

            “Why did you say goodluck?”

            A smile grew on Momo’s face, developing into a playful smirk to herself. She shrugged, a bit more exaggerated for Sana to clearly see. “You’ll find out sooner or later.”

            “…Find out what, exactly?” Sana once again, asked, but the doors closed before she could wait for Momo’s answer. The elevator started to climb up when Sana recovered and pressed the button of the highest floor.

            Back downstairs, Momo was stepping out outside. She put down her box as she looked outside the cold streets of Osaka. The snow was clearing up, but it was still too cold to walk around without any warmers. Having taken this into account, she crouches in front of the cardboard box she was carrying and took the scarf that was on top of everything else. It was a red plaid patterned scarf. She smiled at it before she wrapped it around her neck.

            The said sweater was Dahyun’s gift to Momo last winter. It was handmade by the former herself, which put even more value into it. She didn’t care if it wasn’t worth a lot, to her, it was priceless. She’s been wearing the same scarf ever since.

            She picked the box back up before she walked out to the snow-covered parking lot. Before she went inside her car, she looked up at the building’s highest floor and to a certain window. It was the unit Dahyun was in.

            “See you soon, angel.”

            Momo whispered and headed into her car after she put in her things.

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            Sana was standing dumbfounded inside the elevator. Momo was be